---
title: He pronounced the words as plainly as he could, because he meant to… — Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen · tree and pragmatics
description: He pronounced the words as plainly as he could, because he meant to be kind to the little girl; and then he asked her where she was going all alone in the wide world. Who acts: He, girl. A sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and Princess, with its depen
---

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# Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Prince and Princess, sentence 3

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He pronounced the words as plainly as he could, because he meant to be kind to the little girl; and then he asked her where she was going all alone in the wide world.

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**Who acts:** He, girl · **What happens:** pronounce, mean, be, ask, go · **To what, where:** words, girl, wide world

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This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Prince and Princess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (He, girl), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg27200:173:3
# text = He pronounced the words as plainly as he could, because he meant to be kind to the little girl; and then he asked her where she was going all alone in the wide world.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pronounced	pronounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	30	advmod	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
31	all	all	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	wide	wide	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pronounce** | past | He | the words |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the little girl; kind *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | he |  | girl |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 5 | **go** | past · progressive | girl |  |  | the wide world |  | alone *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in world=Location |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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